Reply #35: An even greater struggle over the meaning of this word is beginning. [View All]

[patrice]

Strategically, it makes a great deal of sense for certain political factions in this country to create the understanding that there is one exclusive definition/manifestation of Socialism: the means of production are owned by the government.

That understanding is the point from which many alternatives will be attacked and criticized even though those alternatives are no where near being government ownership. If they can be characterized that way, it will serve the purposes of those who are resisting the changes we need.

Watching the DU lately, it comes to mind how interesting it would be to search it for the number of instances in which "the government owns the means of production" is repeated as the SOLE definition of Socialism, how many instances repeated by how many posters. I think the campaign to destroy common understanding of the concept of Socialism is already under way in the rhetorical war that roils around all of the issues and you can see some of those skirmishes here on the DU.